Twin blasts in Parachinar, 45 shoppers killed
On Friday, 23rd June 2017, at least 45 people were killed, while 70 others were injured when two back to back bomb blasts ripped through a shopping center at Parachinar city in Kurram Agency.
According to the local sources the first explosion occurred when the locals were busy in Eid shopping and buying food for Iftar in Akbar Market in the main Turi Bazaar.
Rescuers along with the locals had barely started relief activities to shift the victims of the first blast to hospitals, when the second blast hit the crowd. The second blast resulted in the multiplied number of casualties.
So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to a Political Administration official, initial reports said that some 18 persons had been killed while 100 were injured. Many of the injured were in serious condition. Some of the injured later expired in the hospital, which raised the death toll to 45.
The blasts intensity was so high that the sounds echoed the entire locality. According to an eyewitness the huge blasts smashed the windowpanes of the nearby houses and shops.
According to another source the ear-splitting bangs of the blasts, which occurred just minutes apart, had created fear and panic in the area and people had rushed to search their loved ones.
Locals on a self help basis shifted the injured to Agency headquarters hospital in Parachinar.
According to a hospital source “The agency headquarters hospital lacks basic facilities to accommodate a large number of victims and the injured are being shifted to the district hospital in Kurram Agency.”
Sajid Hussain Turi who is an MNA, also cited the lack of facilities at the agency headquarter official the reason for the shifting most of the injured.
In a statement by the ISPR, it stated that two military helicopters also left for Parachinar to airlift the injured to Peshawar. Moreover It added that soon after the blast, the Pakistan Army personnel had cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.
According to the official sources the blasts may have been carried out by suicide bombers and their main target had been the crowd which was busy in shopping.
The event had occurred on the last Friday of Ramazan, with just a few days to go before the Eid holidays, most of the victims of the incident had been ordinary shoppers who were going about their shopping routines and possibly buying gifts for Eid.
According to MNA Turi the second blast had occurred when locals and rescuers had been busy in the rescue operation at the site of the first blast.
Mushtaq Ghani Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government spokesman while talking to the journalists, condemned the double bombing and added that the terrorists could not shake the resolve of the people and the government who were valiantly fighting the terrorists.
Bordering Afghanistan, the Kurram Agency had been the hub of militants before the launching of the military operation Zarb-e-Azab.
Parachinar which is the main town of the tribal district has time and again been targeted by militants who carry out suicide attacks.
Earlier on 25th April 2017, at least 14 people which included four women had lost their lives after a remote controlled explosive device had exploded in a passenger van in the Godar area of Kurram.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has strongly condemned terrorist attacks in Quetta and Parachinar. The Prime Minister directed the authorities at federal and provincial levels to hunt down the perpetrators of this heinous act and bring them to justice. PM Nawaz Sharif also directed that the victims be provided the best treatment facilities to the injured of the two blasts.
On Friday, 23rd June 2017, the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa said that the enemy is trying to mar the festive mood of the nation by resorting to cowardly acts.
ISPR DG Major General Asif Ghafoor Bajwa said that security has been tightened across the country. He further added that Special Intelligence based Operations (IBO) along with search operations have been launched in coordination with intelligence and other law enforcement agencies.
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